According to resident and chairman of the association Steve Buck, there has allegedly been no prior consultation that has taken place with the neighbours of the property or with the community as a whole and the planned antenna will be located on a residential property in the area.
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The owner of the residential property in question, Frank Peter, claims that immediate neighbours were notified regarding the antenna. “We ourselves are satisfied that the study commissioned by MTN indicates that the safety regulations in regard to electro-magnetic emissions from the antenna have been complied with,” added Peter.
Celiwe Mtebula from the City’s Development Planning Department said, “I did send a building inspector to the site, and we have issued a stop order to cease all illegal building work immediately. We will continue to monitor the site.”
Peter added, “The sole reason that the plans for the plant room have not been approved is due to the long delay (five years) for the proclamation of our revised rights to accommodate some other additions and we would prefer to make one submission covering all the changes rather than many different submissions. We have requested our town planners to follow up on the proclamation.”
Mamello Raborifi on behalf of MTN South Africa said an environmental authorisation is not required for the rooftop antenna installation in question. “Antennas mounted onto an existing structure are exempt from compliance by the National Envirnomental Management Act and are not a listed activity,” explained Raborifi.
Apparently since 2011, the City has provided the telecommunication industry with an exemption from compliance of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, 1979 (as amended) which allows, inter alia, the deployment of antennas on existing structures without a submission or approval of the building plan, to the City. “Therefore in this instance, there is no requirement to submit building plans to the local authority as it is exempt,” added Raborifi.
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